Nicosia, 06/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Cypriot minister of finance, Vassos Shiarly, called on Friday 6 July for Europe to be fair with regard to the financial aid that his country is requesting. The crisis affecting our country is due to “another eurozone country” Shiarly said, without explicitly mentioning Greece. Nicosia is indeed paying a high price for its proximity and financial links with Athens. The minister underlined that Cypriot banks have lost €4.2 billion with the Greek crisis, in other words the equivalent of 24% of Cypriot GDP. Stressing that it is unfair that his country suffer the repercussions of the Greek crisis, the minister said that he would tackle this question with his future institutional creditors, who are visiting the island this week. He promised that, at the negotiations, they will relay this information, which is information in itself.
Shiarly said that the Cypriot authorities would pass on to the troika (European Commission, ECB, IMF), their future institutional creditors, the information that it needs “so that it can evaluate the situation correctly”. The troika knows what is has to do and it looks at Cyprus fairly, he continued. He did not show any concern at the conditionality of the aid, particularly with regard to the fact that the troika could ask Cyprus to raise its low corporate tax rate (10%). This weak rate helps the Cypriot economy, which is based on services, Shiarly believes. This question was raised previously when Ireland asked for aid but Dublin never responded to pressure from Germany and especially France.
No speculation on the amount of aid. The minister refused to make calculations for his country, saying that they were going to wait for the complete evaluation of their needs and were not going to speculate on an amount. On the question of obtaining a loan from a country such as Russia or China, Shiarly said that Cyprus would discuss this with the EU. “If it comes, or when it comes, we will discuss with our partners in Europe and we will take a decision”, he made clear (our translation throughout). In his opinion the countries which have received European aid have nothing to be stigmatised about, and they are contributing to the European aid funds. (CG/transl.fl)